Regulation News - Cyberpunk.gg

Democrats oppose Trump administration's tech buildup for immigration enforcement

Democratic lawmakers and civil liberties advocates are pushing back against the Trump administration's deployment of facial recognition and biometric surveillance technologies to support deportation operations. Representative Pramila Jayapal has introduced the ICE Out of Our Faces Act to ban ICE and Customs and Border Protection from acquiring and using biometric identification systems, while requiring deletion of existing data. Civil rights advocates note facial recognition systems have documented accuracy disparities for women and people of color, raising concerns about wrongful arrests.

The Hill • Feb 22

INEQUALITY SURVEILLANCE PRIVACY

SerpApi asks court to dismiss Google web scraping lawsuit

A federal judge has allowed SerpApi's antitrust counterclaims against Google to proceed, finding the scraping company plausibly alleged that Google holds monopoly power in the search market and that its lawsuit against SerpApi could constitute exclusionary conduct. The ruling challenges the limits of how a monopolist can use Terms of Service to restrict access to information that has become essential internet infrastructure.

The Register • Feb 22

CORPORATE NEOCORP ANTITRUST

America desperately needs new privacy laws

Congress has repeatedly failed to pass comprehensive privacy legislation despite decades of corporate surveillance expansion. The Verge reports that even targeted measures like the Fourth Amendment Is Not for Sale Act—which would restrict police from using data brokers to bypass privacy laws—have stalled. Tech monopolies exacerbate privacy problems by reducing competition and centralizing information in exploitable silos, while new technologies from AR glasses to generative AI create fresh surveillance risks faster than regulatory frameworks can adapt.

The Verge • Feb 22

CORPORATE ANTITRUST SURVEILLANCE

Have we leapt into commercial genetic testing without understanding it?

Daphne O. Martschenko and Sam Trejo's new book "What We Inherit" warns that polygenic embryo selection has entered clinical practice with minimal regulatory oversight while offering limited predictive value. The technology uses statistical associations between gene variants and traits to rank embryos, but accuracy varies dramatically by genetic ancestry — with Pacific Islander Americans seeing systematically worse predictions than those of European descent. If access remains concentrated among wealthy populations, embryo selection could encode class and racial disparities directly into the human genome, compounding across generations.

Ars Technica • Feb 22

INEQUALITY REGULATION SYNTHETIC

How A.I. Money Is Flooding Into the Midterm Elections

AI companies and allied groups have spent at least $83 million on federal elections and are positioned to deploy hundreds of millions more for the 2026 midterm elections in an extraordinary demonstration of political power from Silicon Valley. OpenAI, Anthropic, and affiliated executives are directing record political contributions as the industry moves to shape favorable regulatory frameworks and secure government contracts. The spending surge comes as AI companies face mounting regulatory scrutiny and competition for lucrative defense and infrastructure contracts. Some donors have broader political interests beyond AI policy, but the coordinated industry investment represents an unprecedented electoral mobilization by emerging technology firms.

The New York Times • Feb 22

CORPORATE NEOCORP GEOPOLITICS

Top NATO allies believe cyberattacks on hospitals are an act of war. They're still struggling to fight back.

A major poll across the US and four NATO member states reveals that majorities in each country view cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, particularly hospitals and energy grids, as acts of war. Despite this consensus, the allied nations remain divided on appropriate responses, with less than half believing that hacking political leaders' private communications constitutes an act of war. State-linked attacks have escalated dramatically - the 2024 Change Healthcare breach exposed 190 million US medical records, while a Russian cyberattack on UK NHS systems contributed to a patient's death. Iranian government-backed hackers also targeted Boston Children's Hospital in 2022.

Politico • Feb 22

REGULATION CYBERCRIME CYBERWAR

Inside the Big Tech Lobbying Machine Aiming to Halt Social Media Bans

Meta and Google have dramatically escalated lobbying expenditures across Europe as governments move to implement teen social media bans. Tech industry lobbying in the EU surged 55% from 2021 to 2025, reaching €151 million annually with Meta alone spending €10 million last year. The campaign includes full-page newspaper ads invoking European icons, direct politician engagement, and advocacy for parent-controlled restrictions rather than government-imposed age limits as the industry fights to preserve youth market access.

The New York Times • Feb 22

CORPORATE NEOCORP GEOPOLITICS

Mark Zuckerberg's entourage threatened with contempt for wearing Meta AI glasses into a no-recording courtroom

A California judge threatened Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's entourage with contempt of court after they wore Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses into a Los Angeles courtroom where recording devices are prohibited. The incident occurred during a trial over whether Meta's platforms intentionally harm young users. Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl called the apparent product placement stunt "very serious."

Fortune • Feb 21

CORPORATE NEOCORP SURVEILLANCE

DHS Wants a Single Search Engine to Flag Faces and Fingerprints Across Agencies

Homeland Security is consolidating its biometric databases into a unified platform enabling cross-agency face and fingerprint searches. The move follows DHS dismantling centralized privacy oversight mechanisms and removing key restrictions on facial recognition deployment, expanding surveillance capabilities across immigration and law enforcement operations.

WIRED • Feb 21

SURVEILLANCE PRIVACY BIOMETRICS

TXNM Energy gets FERC approval for $11.5 billion Blackstone deal

The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission authorized Blackstone Infrastructure's $11.5 billion acquisition of TXNM Energy, ruling the transaction "consistent with the public interest" with no harm to rates or competition. The approval marks a critical regulatory milestone for the private equity giant's expansion into utility infrastructure, though state-level approvals remain pending.

Reuters • Feb 21

CORPORATE NEOCORP FINANCE

Towns are saying no to AI data centers. One got sued over it.

Municipal resistance meets corporate litigation as towns attempting to ban AI infrastructure face legal retaliation. Local communities caught between environmental concerns and the unstoppable expansion of the machine empire.

The Washington Post • Oct 12

CORPORATE REGULATION AI

California becomes first state to regulate AI companion chatbots

California's SB 243 forces AI companion corporations to implement safety protocols after teenage suicides linked to chatbots, mandating age verification and state surveillance of self-harm data. Tech giants now face $250k penalties for deepfakes as the state claims first regulatory jurisdiction over synthetic relationships.

TechCrunch • Oct 13

CORPORATE SURVEILLANCE PRIVACY

Mass Pirate Site Domain Suspensions Aim to Slay the Streaming Hydra

Media giants leverage Indian courts for coordinated cross-border crackdown on pirate streaming domains, tightening corporate control over digital content distribution

TorrentFreak • Oct 8

PRIVACY REGULATION INFRASTRUCTURE

US regulators launch investigation into self-driving Teslas after series of crashes

Federal investigation into Tesla's self-driving technology reveals pattern of traffic violations and crashes, exposing dangers of unchecked AI integration into critical infrastructure where system failures endanger lives

The Guardian • Oct 9

AUTOMATION REGULATION TECH

California enacts law giving consumers ability to universally opt out of data sharing

California mandates universal opt-out signals for data sharing in web browsers, a small victory against pervasive digital surveillance infrastructure that treats personal data as constant commodity

The Record • Oct 8

SURVEILLANCE PRIVACY REGULATION

Germany slams brakes on EU's Chat Control snoopfest

Germany opposes EU's Chat Control regulations mandating message scanning for CSAM, blocking legislation that would undermine end-to-end encryption across the EU

The Register • Oct 8

SURVEILLANCE PRIVACY REGULATION

NYSE Owner Intercontinental Exchange in Deal for $2 Billion Stake in Polymarket

Traditional financial institutions absorb crypto prediction markets, integrating speculative blockchain platforms into regulated finance

Wall Street Journal • Oct 7

CORPORATE CRYPTO FINANCE

Petri: An open-source auditing tool to accelerate AI safety research

Anthropic releases open-source AI auditing tool amid growing concerns over algorithmic accountability and safety testing

Anthropic • Oct 6

REGULATION TECH AI

'Dial it down': California forces Netflix, Hulu to lower ad volume

Regulatory intervention attempts to control platform behavior as streaming services exploit user attention through aggressive advertising

POLITICO • Oct 6

NEOCORP REGULATION SOCIAL

Alphabet, Meta, OpenAI, xAI and Snap face FTC probe over AI chatbot safety for kids

FTC investigates seven major tech companies over AI chatbot safety concerns for children and teenagers, examining user engagement practices, data usage, and safety measures.

CNBC • Sep 11

NEOCORP PRIVACY REGULATION

The web has a new system for making AI companies pay up

Really Simple Licensing (RSL) Standard allows web publishers to set licensing terms for AI training data. Reddit, Yahoo, Medium support this robots.txt successor to monetize AI scraping.

The Verge • Sep 10

CORPORATE REGULATION TECH

US Senator Cruz proposes AI 'sandbox' to ease regulations on tech companies

Ted Cruz introduces bill allowing AI companies to get federal regulation exemptions for two years. Aims to help US compete with China by reducing regulatory hurdles, despite consumer safety concerns.

Reuters • Sep 10

CORPORATE GEOPOLITICS REGULATION

Nvidia Accuses Rivals of Being A.I. Doomers as US Debates Sale of Chips to China

Nvidia defends chip sales to China while dismissing AI safety concerns as 'doomerism' from competitors, as US government weighs stricter export controls.

The New York Times • Sep 9